Chapter 104
104. “Hyaaaah!”
“Uraaaagh!”
“Hoo-yah!”
“Hiyahhh!”
As always, the White Wolf Unit was engrossed in fervent training at the training ground that had become their base of operations.
The training ground was as boisterous as ever.
But what had changed from before was that the sounds from the White Wolf Unit members filling the training ground were now closer to spirited shouts than cries of pain.
It might have seemed like a small thing, but it was a very big difference.
It meant that they were no longer training as if being chased relentlessly, but that their stamina had improved to the point where they could fully digest the training itself.
Watching each of the White Wolf Unit members, Yeo Un-hwi also nodded his head with a look of some satisfaction.
However,
*Hmm?*
Soon, his eyes detected something.
The brothers Gi-su and Gi-sang, who were always the most spirited in their training among the White Wolf Unit members, seemed to lack their usual energy for some reason.
No, in fact, it wasn't just today.
They had been like that for the past few days.
Because everyone around them was training so loudly with their shouts, it would have been easy to miss such a change, but anyone with sharp eyes would have already sensed something was wrong with the two.
Naturally, Yeo Un-hwi was no different.
“Good work, everyone!”
Before long, as the training ended, the brothers Gi-su and Gi-sang gave a short farewell and quickly disappeared somewhere.
That, too, was different from their usual behavior.
Normally, they would stay late and chat idly with the other members before leaving.
In fact, they were the ones who usually led that kind of atmosphere.
But these days, even their retreating figures looked utterly dejected.
Their expressions were also dark.
“Well then, I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
“Yes, Commander. Take care!”
After receiving the thunderous farewell from the White Wolf Unit members, Yeo Un-hwi nodded and left the training ground.
“Is he gone?”
Only after confirming that Yeo Un-hwi had disappeared into the distance did O Chae-mu, Gu Tae-san, Peng Do-hwan, and the other remaining members gather and begin to talk.
“Are those guys really going to be okay?”
“I just hope they don’t get any strange ideas.”
“Those fools, to think they’re just suffering in silence without even asking for help.”
“They must have their reasons. Why do you have to put it like that?”
“No, I’m just saying it because I’m frustrated.”
“From what I hear, proper treatment costs a fortune. How could they tell us? Anyone would have done the same.”
“Still. Hah. Those damn kids. Getting timid when they need help... And it’s not like we can tell the Commander, either.”
“Hey, Tae-san.”
As they were talking, everyone’s face stiffened.
But Gu Tae-san-san-san-san paid them no mind and started spouting off.
“I mean, the Commander has to be incredibly busy. I understand how he feels. To be honest, he’s the most dependable person, but he has an aura that makes it hard to just bring things up, you know?”
“T-Tae-san. Th-that’s enough.”
“If you think about it, I’m the one with the softer vibe. My face might lose out a little, but... Haha!”
“Let me make it clear, I like the Commander’s aura very much.”
“Me too. My thoughts are completely different from that dense bear’s.”
“Ahem. I-I, too, think so.”
Suddenly, Peng Do-hwan, Do-gyeong, and O Chae-mu shook their heads with stiff faces and raised objections.
Only then did Gu Tae-san sense something was off and was about to ask, *What’s wrong?*...
“Are you all talking behind my back?”
Suddenly, Yeo Un-hwi’s voice came from right behind Gu Tae-san.
“*Hiiieek!*”
Gu Tae-san’s face was a picture of sheer terror.
No, he looked as if he was barely clinging to consciousness, a step away from fainting.
“C-C-C-Commander?”
“What is it? Why is everyone so surprised? Were you really talking behind my back?”
“N-No! Of course not.”
“Only Tae-san was badmouthing you. We know nothing about it.”
“B-Brother! How could you abandon me like this!”
“Sorry. A man’s got to save himself.”
He wasn’t the only one who was surprised.
As Yeo Un-hwi-hwi-hwi-hwi, who they thought had left, reappeared, the entire White Wolf Unit wore flustered expressions.
“Ahaha. Anyway, Commander, you haven’t left yet?”
“You all were acting so suspicious; I came back. I’m guessing this is all because of the twin brothers, right?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
“Wouldn’t it be stranger if I didn’t know? It’s so obvious, isn’t it? All of you are so obvious. Am I wrong?”
That was true.
“So.”
Looking at them, Yeo Un-hwi tilted his head to the side.
“Tell me. What is it?”
“Well, that is…”
O Chae-mu and the others all glanced at each other and fidgeted.
They looked like they were debating whether they should say anything.
Then,
“I’ll tell you.”
Do-gyeong, who was closest to the twins and the only one who had heard the story directly from them, opened his mouth.
“The truth is…”
After Yeo Un-hwi heard the story from Do-gyeong, his eyebrow soon twitched slightly.
***
“*Cough, cough! Cough!*”
A severe coughing sound came from inside the room.
Gi-su and Gi-sang were pacing anxiously in the yard.
Soon, the physician who came out of the room had a grim expression.
“How is she?”
Unlike their usual selves, Gi-su and Gi-sang asked the physician cautiously.
At that, the physician let out a deep sigh and opened his mouth.
“To be frank, at this rate, she won’t last even half a year.”
At the physician’s first words, the twin brothers’ faces turned cold.
The situation was worse than they had thought.
Both of them felt as if the sky was falling.
To them, their mother was everything.
But,
“Until now, we’ve been using medicinal herbs that lower fever to somehow slow the progression of the disease, but it seems she can’t hold on any longer.”
“By that, you mean…”
“It means that the disease will progress very quickly from now on.”
For a moment, Gi-su and Gi-sang were at a loss for words.
They knew what that meant.
After a long silence, Gi-sang was the first of the brothers to speak.
“As you said before, it can only be cured by that one method, right?”
“That’s right, but the price of the herb is so high…”
Moreover, it wasn’t as if you could get the herb just by having money; it appeared on the market as rarely as beans in a drought, so it was also a problem whether they could even get it at the right time.
How could these two possibly obtain such a rare and expensive herb?
Even the physician didn’t think these twin brothers would have that kind of enormous sum, so it was incredibly difficult for him to bring it up.
Even if they were official warriors of the Peng Family, the salary of two ordinary warriors was nowhere near enough.
Come to think of it, this family was truly unlucky.
‘Of all the diseases in the world, how did she get such a rare one? Tsk tsk.’
The physician clicked his tongue in pity.
Red Blood Fever.
That was the name of the disease Gi-su and Gi-sang’s mother had recently contracted.
It was a rare disease in which red spots appeared all over the body and the blood boiled with a high fever.
Although the progression of the disease could be slowed with medicine that controlled the body’s heat, it was a terrible illness in which, if not treated with the proper cure, the victim would eventually die in agony, like a corpse with all its moisture squeezed out.
And to cure this disease, one had to decoct and consume a single specific herb, but that herb was incredibly rare and difficult to obtain.
“Hah!”
After the physician left a short while later, the twin brothers let out deep sighs, saying nothing.
Then,
“Since it’s come to this, we have no choice.”
Gi-sang was the first to speak.
“Right now, there’s only one way. Quit the White Wolf Unit and do something that will make us a lot of money.”
“Q-Quit the White Wolf Unit?”
Gi-su looked shocked at Gi-sang’s words.
He hadn’t expected such a thing to be said.
It was an option he had never once considered.
“Then what? Are we just going to let Mother die like this?”
“No, before that, how about we try talking to the Commander or the Peng Family?”
“What, you think if we tell them, they’ll just go and get that ridiculously expensive herb for us?”
“That’s not what I mean, but...”
Gi-sang shook his head.
“We should be grateful that they’ve kept us on without firing us after all the trouble we’ve caused. Let’s not burden them when it won’t be resolved anyway. It’s not like it’s a small amount of money.”
Though he said that, Gi-sang’s face looked sadder than ever.
Still, this was not something they could hesitate on any longer.
“Anyway, we don’t have much time. Half a year. No, we have to gather all the money and buy that herb before then. I’m planning to quit tomorrow. Gi-su, what are you going to do?”
“What kind of obvious question is that? Of course, I have to do the same. I can’t let you go alone, brother.”
“Alright. Since it’s come to this, let’s do whatever it takes to make money and cure Mother.”
Gi-su nodded at Gi-sang’s words.
Then, Gi-su suddenly said.
“Oh, then… tomorrow is our last day?”
“I guess so?”
Tomorrow, of all days.
Lately, he had been so worried about his mother that he hadn’t been able to spend proper time with the White Wolf Unit members.
“What a shame.”
Gi-su smacked his lips and scratched his head.
“To think the day would come when we leave the White Wolf Unit. It was pretty great.”
The White Wolf Unit was like a home to them, and a place where they had achieved their dream.
They had vaguely thought of becoming warriors, but if things had gone just a little wrong, they could have ended up as low-level thugs in some Unorthodox Faction, so their mother had always been worried sick.
Thanks to that, he couldn’t describe how happy his mother was when she first heard the news that they had become official warriors of the Peng Family.
Though they had caused all sorts of trouble since then and made her worry.
In any case, he had never imagined an end like this.
“Well, it was a place far too good for guys like us. But we’ve had enough fun until now, so that’s enough.”
“Yeah. That’s true.”
But did they know?
Contrary to their words, their expressions did not look so relieved.
In any case, the day was passing over the heads of the twin brothers who had decided to quit the White Wolf Unit.
The next day arrived.
Gi-su and Gi-sang went to the training ground early in the morning.
Today, they had come out earlier than usual, before the other members arrived.
Unless there was something special, Yeo Un-hwi, too, was always at the training ground on training days, not in the Commander’s office. He would spread out a mat, read a book, and watch the White Wolf Unit members train, seemingly not watching.
However,
“Why isn’t he here? He should be out by this time.”
“I know, right? Did he oversleep today?”
“Hey.”
Just then, arriving a little earlier than usual, O Chae-mu and Gu Tae-san appeared at the training ground.
“What are you two doing here? What brought you out so early?”
“I guess you could say I just happened to wake up early in the morning. Some days are like that. Ahaha!”
“Right. Right.”
Laughing awkwardly, Gi-su and Gi-sang, who had given a vague excuse, scratched their heads in the exact same way.
What’s with these fools?
O Chae-mu and Gu Tae-san had a feeling that these idiot brothers were definitely up to something.
“Anyway, the Commander isn’t here?”
“Ah, I heard the Commander is going out on an errand far away today?”
At Gu Tae-san-san-san's words, Gi-su and Gi-sang frowned at the same time.
“Yes? Hmm. This is a problem.”
“Huh? What’s a problem?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“I don’t know the details, but I think I heard it would take a few days.”
“I… see.”
“Hey. What do we do? This completely messes up our plan.”
Gi-su said to Gi-sang in a whisper, his face troubled.
Then Gi-sang also replied to Gi-su in a whisper.
“What do you mean, what do we do? It’s our last day, so we have to see him in person and tell him. Let’s at least do that as a courtesy.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
But they had no idea.
What Yeo Un-hwi-hwi-hwi-hwi would bring back in a few days.
Or where he had gone.